Month: January 2026

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Storms could strip a man bare, but not if his house and yard were ready.”
                    –E.J. West  (Gunsmoke Christmas)

       “…We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
                    –1 John 3:2 (NASB)
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     Are you keeping up with the news?  Lots going on and if we’re not careful we can get bogged down in the whole mess.  It is good to be informed, but do not go around looking down in the mully-grubs, stepping on your lower lips and moaning.  Instead, remember the words of Jesus when He stated, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” (Luke 21:28, NKJV)
     What we are seeing transpire has been going on in this country for several years.  There has been a great civil war taking place for the minds and souls of the people and recently the hatred and evil has begun to spew out.  It is up to us to be depressed or to continue onward and upward knowing that there is a great and wonderful day coming.

               There’s a blessed time that’s coming, coming soon,
               It may be evening, morning or at noon,
               The wedding of the bride, united with the groom.
               We shall see the King when He comes.

     I was reminded of this old hymn written by John B. Vaughan last Sunday when our pianist was playing it before service.  Friends, there is a “blessed time coming soon.”  Don’t doubt, don’t get caught up in the cares of the world, don’t become a scoffer, don’t get bogged down in the slough of despond.  When will it happen?  All I can say is the day is soon approaching–are you ready?

               Are you ready should the Savior call today?
               Would Jesus say, “Well done,” or “Go away”?
               My home is for the pure, the vile can never stay,
               We shall see the King when He comes.

     Are you ready?  I’ll ask again, are you ready?  That is the real question.  Your eternal abode depends on your answer.  What will Jesus say to you on that day?  When the day of the Lord comes; on that day when we shall see the King there will be no more atheists, no more mockers, no unbelievers, but if you’re not ready today, it will be too late then.  All will recognize Him as King and Lord, but only those who serve Jesus now, have asked for their sins to be forgiven and accepted Him as the Son of God will call Him Savior.

               Oh, my brother, are you ready for the call?
               To crown your Savior King and Lord of all?
               The kingdoms of this world shall soon before Him fall,
               We shall see the King when He comes.

     Now if you’re not already tapping your toes you will be on the chorus.  My, my, won’t that be a wonderful and awesome day!  For we shall see the King in all His majesty, splendor, glory, and power.  Jesus is coming in power; the nations will fall before Him; everyone will bow before Him.  It’s going to be a wondrous day; it’s going to be a terrible day.  Look up, be ready, for His coming is sure and soon.

               We shall see the King, we shall see the King,
               We shall see the King when He comes;
               He is coming in pow’r, we’ll hail the blessed hour,
               We shall see the King when He comes.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

I can fix you some cornbread and sweetmilk right now if you’d like.”
                    –Elmer Kelton  (The Good Old Boys)

       “Happy are people who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, because they will be fed until they are full.”
                    –Matthew 5:6 (CEB)
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               “The Lord will not allow the righteous soul to famish,
                     But He casts away the desire of the wicked.”
                              –Proverbs 10:3 (NKJV)
               “The Lord will not let the godly go hungry, but he refuses to satisfy the craving of the wicked.”
                              –Proverbs 10:3 (NLT)

     Perhaps you remember studying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  God created within man certain physical and emotional needs.  We need food, drink, shelter, and clothing.  We need meaningful employment, companionship, security, and hope for the future. (Beasley)  Man also has a deep need for God.  There is a void that longs to be filled and so often man doesn’t look properly or not at all.  However, we must remember that God cares for the temporal as well as the spiritual.  The wicked crave to have their needs met with material means, false religions, drugs, sex, alcohol and they come away empty.  Without God their deepest need cannot be satisfied.  Ralph Wardlaw says, “The substance of the wicked pertains not to the soul.”
     As Christians we do not need to fret over required needs, yet so often we do.  We forget that the God we serve is a loving, caring, and generous Father.  There is a verse in Numbers that I really like.  The people had been complaining and whining about the food.  There is a great deal in Numbers 11, but I want to draw your attention to verse 23:  “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Has the LORD’s arm been shortened?  Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.'” (NKJV)  Do we believe God’s promises or not?  Simple as that.  
     Part of our problem is that we join the world and we crave things.  We want!  The wants become dominant over the needs.  We don’t ever seem to be satisfied or content with our lot in life.  Paul reminds us, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”  (1 Timothy 6:6-7, NKJV)  God will supply all our need, and that is singular for what is our deepest need?  Jesus!  But He will go further and take care of His children, for they are precious in His sight.  The NKJV Study Bible states, “If godliness (our desire to see God’s character reproduced in us) and contentment (our acceptance of God’s will in our lives) depend on our environment or circumstances, both will always be unstable.”  Change the environment, the humanist educator clamor and the people will change.  No, a resounding no!  The heart must change, or the new environment will be as polluted as the old one was.
     We cannot presume to be given our daily bread if we neglect to do all within our power to earn it.  Henry Beecher reminds us, “God’s promises were never made to ferry our laziness.”  God will do His part, but we do a great disservice if we forget that God put within man to take care of his own.  “When ordinary means will not meet their need, He will employ special means to do so.” (J.L. Flores)  Think of the provision brought by the ravens to Elijah; think of the never-ending oil in the home of the widow.  Know this, that riches and poverty are comparative and relative terms.
     God knows what we need whether temporal or spiritual.  Trust in Him to provide and meet those needs.  Let the Holy Spirit work within for He knows what we truly need; actually much better than we do.  Be content with what He has given you and you will find that more than enough will be given.  A theologian translates the first part of the verse as, “Jehovah will not starve the righteous appetite.”  Hmmm, perhaps we should change or at least look at our appetite.

 

The Saga of Miles Forrest

by Ira Paine, Posted on
Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.” –Ecclesiastes 7:3 (NLT)
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     We were sitting in the office drinking the coffee Doc had made.  The door was open to the back cell room and when Lucius hollered out we could hear him plainly, “Doc, thanks for the coffee.  Yuh need to be teachin’ that kid how to make decent coffee.”
     I stood up moving to the doorway.  “That’s part of the price you pay for bein’ locked up.  Bad jailhouse coffee.  Fortunately for you, Doc is kind.”
     Lucas had a large grin on his face when I looked over at him, and gave me a nod.  The kid had grown up.  Yeah, he was still young, but he was gettin’ to fill out, and he was gaining experience.  
     My thoughts were jostled when the preacher came bursting back into the office.  “Doc, it’s the Widow O’Dell!  I think she’s frozen to death.”
     Doc took one long last swallow.  “Let me get my coat, and I’ll be with you.”
     “How’s Greta?” I asked stepping toward the preacher.
     Wide-eyed, he turned my direction, “Oh, she’s fine.  Plenty of firewood,” he said, then nodded toward Lucas.  “Seems that Lucas found the time to fill her kitchen full and there’s still plenty outside.”  He stopped, then added, “She thinks she might have lost some hens though.”
     I had already grabbed my coat to go with them.  As I left the office I saw that Lucas was throwing his coat on, and was coming to the front with a shovel.  Yep, the kid was going to be a good one.
     There was no need to hurry and in fact, with the deep snow we couldn’t go very fast.  If Mrs. O’Dell was dead there wouldn’t be much that could be done.  We didn’t bother knocking when we came to her house but walked right in to a room that felt like a meat-locker.  There Merry O’Dell sat, in front of a stove that was stone cold.  Looking around I saw wood in the corner, and that puzzled me.  
     Doc knelt by her to do his examination, whilst the preacher and I just looked on.  “I see wood, what do you think happened?”
     “She had been very depressed for several days,” answered the Parson.  “I wonder…”
     Doc stood up, turned to face us.  “I think she just up and died.  From what I can tell, she didn’t bother to feed the stove and fell asleep,” he stated bluntly.  “I’ll stop by Parker’s to let him know.  Since she’s frozen there’s no need to get her moved immediately.”
     “Doc, do you know if she had any family, left a will?” My mind was working.  It had been my experience to have to contact next of kin on numerous occasions.
     “I don’t know much about her family.  Dick was a prosperous man and left her well off when he died a year or so ago, but I only came around once or twice to see her,” responded Doc, scratching at his cheek.  “Shame,” he muttered, then headed toward the door.  “I’ll stop at Parker’s then go on home.  Edith will wonder what’s happened to me.”
     “Miles she has a will,” the Parson assured me.  “I’ve been ministering to her recently.  I’m not saying that this was a deliberate act, planned out, but I do think she did nothing to stop it.”
     “Convenient, huh,” I muttered.
     “You might say that.  She has been lonely since her husband died,” he stopped, to look at the woman seeming to rest peacefully in her chair.  Shaking his head, he spoke, “I don’t begin to understand.” The preacher paused, still shaking his head.  “I do know we have to trust in the Lord.  He is the righteous Judge.  Whatever He does and decides is right.” 
     “Amen to that, Parson,” I agreed.  “Where’s the will?”
     The preacher pointed to a room.  “It’s in a little desk in her bedroom.”
     “Why don’t you go get it, and then it might be a good idea if we shouldn’t check on some of the other elderly, especially those livin’ alone.”
     He nodded, then moved to the widow’s room.  In a few minutes he had returned holding a sealed envelope in his hands.  Returning to me, he stopped to look at the lady.  Reaching down he tried to adjust her hands, but she was too stiff.  With a sigh, he stood and began walking to the door.
     Following him outside, I wondered how…

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Ya’ oughta just be happy yore gettin’ a chance fer sumpin’ special. Thar ain’t no guarantees ’bout nuthin’ in this hyar life.”
                    –B.N. Rundell  (To the Cache La Poudre)

       “The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will rejoice over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”
                    –Zephaniah 3:17(NASB)
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“If you’re happy and you know it — clap your hands…!”  Remember the old Sunday School song?  Jesus is teaching us in the Beatitudes what true happiness is.  Remember, “blessed” means more than just ‘happiness.”  William Barclay tells us, “Blessed describes that joy which has its secret within itself, that joy which is serene and untouchable, and self-contained, that joy which is completely independent of all the chances and changes of life.”
     Man seeks to fill the void in his soul far too often with superficial happiness.  Man strives to find happiness in external worldly things–but whether he wants to acknowledge it or not he has a soul, he is a spiritual being destined for eternity.  Thomas Watson says, “The soul is a spiritual thing; riches are of an earthly extract–how can these fill a spiritual substance?”
     There are a couple of translations that help in understanding “blessed.”  Since we have seen that it is hard to define with one word these two translations help in our understanding.

          “Happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous–with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions.” –Amplified
          “Blessed, that is, fortunate–fully satisfied–joyful and spiritual prosperous.” –Henry A. Harbuck

Thomas Aquinas calls being blessed the “ultimate end.”  To be blessed then is to be fully satisfied in the spiritual state.  The term “occurs when someone is indwelt by Christ and the Holy Spirit, because the light of God has come.” (Harbuck)
     The things of and in the world:  material goods, riches, wealth, power, fame, etc. can only bring temporary happiness but not true blessedness.  Man seeks happiness but blessedness eludes him.  “Blessedness is the perfection of a rational creature.  It is the whetstone of his ambition, the flower of his joy.  Blessedness is the desire of all men.” (Watson)  This blessedness given by the indwelling Spirit is the declaration of what is truly the best kind of life to live.
     In the coming weeks, as we study the Beatitudes it is important to keep the meaning of blessedness in mind.  This blessedness, this joy cannot be taken away by the world; therefore, a gloomy Christian is unthinkable!  This blessedness–“the joy and fortune for the believer are found in Christ” (Edward A. Starks)  And think–the fullness of blessedness lies in the future.  We only have a touch, a fragment of it now.
     Come on then, “If you’re blessed and you know it — clap your hands….  If you’re blessed and you know it — stomp your feet”!